Patients being discharged from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust are benefitting from enhanced welfare support and a more streamlined service, thanks to a pilot scheme in partnership with Age UK Lancashire. 

Our Hospital Aftercare Service already supports safe discharge for patients across Lancashire. This new scheme is the first collaborative where Age UK Lancashire and clinical colleagues are working together to discharge patients jointly. 

The scheme, which is one of the first in the UK, was set up earlier this year and is planned to run for six months, using a lease car to offer transport to patients being discharged from hospital rather than an ambulance. It also offers a tiered ‘take home and settle service’, which includes an assessment at the patients home to establish practical and emotional support to avoid readmission to hospital.

Now, rather than travelling home in a shared ambulance, patients can enjoy a more comfortable drive, freeing up ambulances to deal with those who need specialist support, such as stretcher support.

The car, which was procured through Age UK Lancashire, has six bookable appointments per day, and is driven by an Age UK Lancashire Aftercare Wellbeing Advisor alongside a Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Passenger Discharge Transport Assistant. They will take the patient home, where a therapist will meet the car to carry out home assessments including safe transfer, ordering equipment and minor adaptations and booking further support visits if needed.

Prior to the scheme, some therapist appointments were cancelled due to delays in transport, so this new initiative is minimising this alongside alleviating anxiety for the patient and their family.

Jane Kitchen, Operational Discharge Lead at the Trust, helped to set up the scheme. She said: “It has been wonderful to work collaboratively with our system partners to make better use of resources and services whilst achieving patient centred outcomes. Before this trial if a patient was assessed as needing the assistance of two people to mobilise or transfer, they would have to travel on an ambulance, and this puts pressure on our ambulance patient transport colleagues as the home first service relies on a coordinated arrival of the patient and the therapists to complete the assessment and ensure the patient is safe in their own home".

“By travelling in a car rather than an ambulance, it supports the message to the patient and family that they are progressing with their recovery and independence and do not require specialist vehicles, giving confidence to maximising their own independence or families feeling able to take their loved ones in the car with them to shopping or other outings.”